[Footnote 4:  This strange custom has been differently related formerly, and we believe more accurately, as prevalent only in the Nayra tribe, in which the women are allowed several husbands at the same time, and may change them at pleasure.—­E.]

The next commandery is Gallo, or Point de Galle, on the island of Ceylon, at the distance of about twenty leagues from Columbo, the Dutch capital of that island.  Gallo was the first place in Ceylon taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, and still is a place of considerable trade.  The commander at this place is entirely dependent upon the governor of Ceylon, and can do nothing without his approbation.  About the year 1672, Lewis XIV. sent out a squadron of eight frigates, with orders to make themselves master of this place, this project having been proposed to the court of France by one Mynheer Jan Martin, who had served the Dutch East India Company for many years, and had quitted their service on some disgust.  When the royal orders came to be opened at sea, Martin found that the government was to be vested in another person, in case the place were taken, on which he took such measures as frustrated the object of the expedition.  Mynheer van Cosse, who then commanded the Dutch fleet, soon arrived on the coast, and the French retired without venturing an engagement.  They went to Trankamala, or Trinconomalee, and anchored in the bay of that name, meaning to force the garrison of that small fort to surrender:  But Van Cosse soon followed them, and brought them to action while disadvantageously situated in the bay, and either sank or burnt half of the French fleet.  The rest fled to St Thomas, on the coast of Coromandel, intending to have formed a settlement there; but Van Cosse again followed them to that place and seized all their ships, many of their guns having been carried ashore, as were at this time a great number of their officers and men.  The French who were on shore capitulated with the Dutch to quit India, on being allowed shipping to carry them home, which Van Cosse agreed to, giving them his flag-ship, the Groote Britanye, and two others, for that purpose.  Martin was detained and carried to Batavia, where he was confined for life on an allowance of a rix-dollar a-day.

The next commandery is that of Samarang, on the island of Java, and he who commands here has the direction of all the factories in that island, except those which depend immediately on the government of Batavia. Kuttasura, which is the residence of the emperor of Java, is within his jurisdiction.  In the year 1704, a war broke out in Java between the brother and son of the deceased emperor, as competitors for the succession, which lasted twenty years.  The Dutch sided with the former, but the affections of the natives were with the latter, who drew over to his party a great number of the native soldiers who had served under the Dutch, and who, being well disciplined, behaved gallantly on all occasions, and gave the Dutch much trouble.